wees

English

Noun

wees

1. plural of wee

Verb

wees

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of wee

Anagrams

• ewes, swee

Afrikaans

Alternative forms

• wies (Cape Afrikaans)

Etymology

From Dutch wezen, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną. See Dutch zijn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /viəs/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

wees (present is, present participle synde, past was, past participle gewees)

1. To be.

   Ek was gister dronk gewees.

   I was drunk yesterday.

   Hy kon al 'n dokter gewees het.

   He could have been a doctor by now.

Usage notes

• Unlike other Afrikaans verbs, the past participle of wees (gewees) does not usually take the auxiliary verb het to form the perfect tense unless a modal verb is being used: Ek sou baie kwaad gewees het as jy dit gedoen het. (“I would have been very angry if you had done this.”) Outside of this construction, het gewees is rarely encountered and is considered nonstandard. The actual perfect tense of wees is is gewees, but this form is also very rare, being usually replaced with either was or was gewees. (The latter is formally a pluperfect, but is generally used without any semantic distinction.)

Conjugation

Conjugation of wees ("to be")

infinitive	wees
	present	past
indicative	is	was
subjunctive1	sy	ware
participle	synde	gewees
1. Rarely used.

Anagrams

• sewe

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋeːs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːs

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch wêse, from Old Dutch wēso, from Proto-West Germanic *waiso, of uncertain origin, with no solid cognates outside of Germanic; possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂ (“widow”).

Cognate with German Waise, Middle Low German wêse, probably Old English *wāsa (in wuduwāsa).

Noun

wees m or f (plural wezen, diminutive weesje n)

1. an orphan, person or animal having survived both parents
2. an orphaned one, left out of a sequence

Derived terms

• halfwees, halve wees
• verweesd
• volle wees
• weeshuis
• weesjongen
• weeskamer
• weeskind
• weesmeester
• weesvader
• weesziekte

Descendants

• Afrikaans: wees

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

wees

1. imperative of zijn
2. imperative of wezen

Derived terms

• weesgegroet

Verb

wees

1. singular past indicative of wijzen

References

• Taaladvies.net on ‘wees’ or ‘ben’

North Frisian

Alternative forms

• weese (Mooring)
• wiis (Sylt)

Etymology

From Old Frisian wesa, from Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną.

Verb

wees

1. (Föhr-Amrum, Heligoland) to be

Usage notes

• The present conjugation of wees is highly irregular. Compare further kem, skel, wed, wel.

Spanish

Noun

wees m pl or f pl

1. plural of we